Ayom
Jabu Morales emigrated from her home in Minas Gerais, Brasil to Barcelona in 2011 and now she combines her musical career with being a mother, teaching percussion to women and her on-going study of ‘Candomblé’ & Afro-Brazilian rhythms. It was an unexpected connection between the Italian musicians Alberto, Timoteo & Jabu at a concert in Barcelona in mid 2018 that instigated the new formation of the group. Alberto & Timoteo Grignani, co-founder & percussionist of the group, recognised Jabu’s incredible talent, invited her to join them and thus ‘Ayom’ was born. Fast-forward to 2019, and an intense two-week recording session in a country house owned by a Portuguese wine producer south of Lisbon, was enough to return home with an album ‘tucked under their arm’.
With their first album they received an enthusiastic review by the critics and went on tour performing at more than 50 concerts at the most important festivals in Europe and all over the world.
‘Ayom’ are considered musical seafarers who traverse the Black Atlantic from Brazil to Angola & Cape verde, with a distinctly Mediterranean identity. Theirs is a mixture of Brazilean, tropical, Afro-Latin & Afro-Lusitan sounds played with an irresistible swing. Their name refers to the “Lord of Music” which in Brazilean mythology (Candomblé) exists in the drum and taught humans to play & sing. Blending century old traditions with the black & rhythmical language of lusophone cultures, Ayom provide a hot-stepping and spiritual voyage across the African diaspora.
Thus, musicality flourishes nomadic, profound, provocative and dancing, where tradition and contamination, male and female, poetry and energy, joy and engagement coexist.
‘Ayom’ is a multicultural band, made up of six members from Brazil, Angola, Italy & Greece with Brazilian singer and percussionist Jabu Morales taking centre stage.
- Line-Up:
- Jabu Morales: vocals & percussion
- Alberto Becucci: accordion
- Timoteo Grignani: percussion
- Walter Martins: percussion
- Ricardo Quinteria: guitar
- Francesco Valente: bass
